These Brothers Again
by InzanityFirez
Summary: With the threat of Leviathans looming, Dean and Sam have their hands full.  But throw in a few old foes like Lucifer and Michael, old and new allies, some unlikely alliances, and they might just be able to win.  Sequel-ish to These Brothers We. S7 AU-ish.
1. What Doesn't Kill You

**I really shouldn't be starting another story when I've got so many others to attend to…but maybe getting excited over a new idea will get me back into the spirit? Still gonna work on those others though! XD Here's the deal with this story, it's basically a multi-chapter sequel to my story These Brothers We [you don't necessarily have to read it, just know that Michael/Lucifer reconciled], and this is a pickup of Season 7, if Lucifer/Michael had escaped, and some other 'lost' angels were to return, yada, yada. I'll try to keep it following the real season 7, but some things will be AU. Enjoy! **

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_**Present Day**_

"So you're Lucifer. The prodigal son returns." Dick Roman smiled as he made a gesture of welcome and rose from his seat behind a desk. "I must say, you're looking well for an eternally damned and disgraced ex-angel. You carry it well."

Lucifer smiled in return, all charm as he shrugged lightly, weighted down by the body with a sack-covered head he held effortlessly in his right hand. "You know what they say…what doesn't kill you…"

Dick chuckled. "Makes you stronger…yes, I've heard that phrase. Of course, it really depends on what tried to kill you. Can't get much stronger if say, your wings were cut off and you were tossed into a cage to rot, but it's a nice thought. Naïve, but nice." He moved around his desk to lean against it as he regarded Lucifer. "Well, as pleasant as this all is, I assume this is business and not a personal call? Since, personally, you're little better than those pond-scum demons in my eyes." Dick's tone was even, but his eyes were cold and contained only faintly veiled disdain.

Lucifer didn't miss a beat, he kept his tone light but his eyes were anything but. "You have something of mine, I have something you want. While we're being honest, personally, I think you're a parasitic worm. But like I said: you have something that's mine."

If Lucifer's words struck a chord, Dick gave no indication as he tapped his fingers idly on his desk . "Oh? And what could I possibly have that would interest _you_?"

Lucifer kept his impatience well-hidden, but the pretense was wearing on him. He was tired, suffering the effects of his partial mortality, anxiety over his brother, and furthermore: Dick Roman the leech was pissing him off. But he'd get his, all in due time. "I hope you're not getting senile in your old age, Leviathan. You only took my brother a few days ago."

"Ah, you mean Michael! Yes, he's been a wonderful guest. Very generous, particularly with his screams. You'd think he'd never felt pain before, the way he goes on." Dick drawled. "But then, I guess he's never been truly mortal before, has he?"

It took every ounce of self-control Lucifer possessed, and perhaps some leftover grace of his father to stay his hand at those words. If Dick had truly harmed Michael…

Dick simply smirked faintly, still maintaining his pleasant façade as he ceased tapping his fingers to stand up and make a gesture for Lucifer to continue. "Let's say I was amenable to trading favors. What is it you have that I would want?"

Lucifer's smile widened as he dropped the body in his right hand and let it clatter to the floor. He bent at the waist to tug off the sack that covered the body's head and jerked it back up by the back collar of it's dark jacket. The unconscious man sagged, but Lucifer kept him upright as he met Dick's surprised gaze and spoke cheerfully.

"How about Dean Winchester?"

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_**Days Earlier**_

The sunlight overhead was blinding, and the blowing wind was all but icy against his bare skin. There were odd scents in the air, scents that he didn't recognize and a strange, gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach. And pain, there was that, a dull throbbing in the back of his head and a general weak feeling. Worst of all, he felt the absence, the _emptiness_ of the Grace he'd always known as well as his own celestial limbs. He was more than Fallen.

Michael, the greatest of the Arch Angels, the greatest warrior of Heaven…was mortal.

"No…" The word bubbled past his lips and felt foreign on his seemingly thick tongue. His throat hurt, it felt raw and he coughed against the feeling. What was it…? Water, he needed water…because he was _thirsty_…and the pit in his stomach, it was _hunger_. Pain, hunger, thirst, weak, blinded emptiness of the power of Grace, of the truest light. He knew of the concepts, but they were foreign to him, impossible. They were human, mortal concepts and he was an angel…how could this be…?

Michael stretched a shaky hand upwards as he squinted at the brightly lit sky above him. The grass around him felt scratchy against his bare skin. All of his senses were dulled, and yet, his physical perceptions were turned on and utterly new. He shouldn't be able to experience cold, or such common tactile feelings. "Father…why?" he croaked before something occurred to him and he tilted his head left and right weakly. "Lucifer? Lucifer!" Where had his brother gone? They had been together…finally together…

_Lucifer wasn't sure how many days had passed, or was it only hours, or even years, since he and Michael had reached a measure of reconciliation. They had explained things, they had offered forgiveness, they had offered love and for the first time: Lucifer __**felt**__ it. Even in the dank Hell Cage, Michael's warmth filled him, gave him some insane, ridiculous hope that eternity in the Cage was not completely a punishment. Not as long as he had his brother beside him. _

_Michael's hand brushed against his face from where his older brother lay in his lap and gazed up at him thoughtfully, and Lucifer smiled down at him as he lifted a free hand to catch Michael's and squeeze it tightly. "You were lost in thought again, Luc." _

_Lucifer brought Michael's hand to his lips and kissed it lightly as he reveled in the simple pleasure of being close to someone: to his brother. "Just glad you're here." _

_Michael smiled wryly. "I don't know if I should thank you for that or not." _

_Lucifer grimaced. "You know what I mean." _

" _Indeed, you're as easy to read now as when you were a child." Michael drawled. _

_Lucifer scrunched his nose faintly before he let their hands fall and tweaked Michael's ear lightly, a gesture Michael had often used on him long, long before all of this. Before they'd been torn apart. Michael smirked in reply. "Poor Luc-" Michael cut off as his gaze shot to the side of them and he jumped up suddenly, his body tensed defensively. "Who's there?" he demanded coldly, gone from doting older brother to Heaven's fiercest warrior in an instant. Lucifer rose behind him quickly, and he seemed confused at first until he sensed whatever Michael had noticed and tensed as well. _

_Outside of the cage, despite the illogicality of it since the cage did not exist where beings could simply tread the borders of it, something moved. _

"_Reveal yourself." Michael called out, and then he grasped his hands over his ears with a gasp of pain as a hideous, shrill sound filled the air. The noise was ear-splitting and Michael had the strangest sensation of his skull being split in twain before he heard Lucifer called his name, and then everything simply went black._

Michael stared skyward, stunned by his memory. What, in the name of his Father, could have done such a thing? And moreover, why? As for Michael's grace, how could something have robbed him of it? Where had it gone?

_Splash_.

Michael's gaze darted to his side, and he finally became aware of a small stream beside him where a creature, a frog perhaps, had jumped in. _Water_. He moved on instincts he didn't know that he had possessed as he shakily drew himself up and crawled the several feet towards it. His body felt numb and weak, and he leaned over the edge of the water as he began to grab handfuls of it and drink it down thirstily. And by his father, nothing had ever seemed as sweet as the water did in that moment. The cool rush of it down his parched throat was practically blissful…

Until he noted his reflection.

Michael hadn't been sure what he expected, he hadn't thought that far ahead, but at the very least-he would have thought he'd still be wearing Adam's form. But instead, the face in the rippling water seemed younger. With bright blue-green eyes and messy brown hair, youthful and clean, no more than seventeen and unfamiliar to him. "Who are you?" he whispered to his reflection, confused and troubled, and ultimately angered as well. What trickery was this?

And how, by the light, was he going to get out of this mess?

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"You're a jerk."

"You're breaking my heart, bitch."

"I'm not kidding, Dean. If I find another one of those stupid dolls somewhere…"

"What's wrong, Glitterbelle? One little doll too much for you to handle?"

Sam clenched his teeth a bit before he very deliberately shook off some of the remaining glitter onto Dean. They hadn't reached a motel yet, so he was still covered in the craptastic glitter explosion courtesy of his clown-nightmare fight. A situation his brother had yet to let him live down, and had taken advantage of by picking up-so far-four of those stupid clown dolls. He suspected the fourth was the last, but he was on guard just in case he had to chuck another one out the window. Possibly to be accompanied by Dean's prized new slinky the next time.

Dean huffed. "Keep your fairy dust to yourself, clown boy."

"Cute, Dean. Real cute." So much for apologizing for all the trauma he'd given Sam.

Dean smirked in reply and Sam rolled his eyes before he regarded his brother with a mixture of teasing and curiosity. "What about you? If he'd worked his mojo on you, would I be walking you through landing a plane?"

"Like you know how to land a plane." Dean shifted uncomfortably though at the mention of an airplane, and Sam gained a smirk of his own.

"Seriously though, that would have been it, right?" His brother's big fear, or childhood fear, at any rate. One that, as with Sam's, had extended into his future. "Planes are your big bad fear?" he taunted, and Dean's gaze zeroed in on the road ahead of him half-mindedly.

"_Sam!" A flash of a knife and Sam was down, and Dean was holding his dying brother in his arms. He couldn't die, not Sammy, not now. Not after everything. _

"_You walk out that door," a bloodied Dean regarded the demon-blood pumped Sam, "Don't you come back!" Sam turned and left. _

_John Winchester shouted as Sam headed for that door. "You walk out that door, you don't come back, y'hear me?" _

"_Sam, he doesn't mean that. Sammy! Damnit!" Dean watched as Sam walked out despite his best efforts. He was going to Stanford, he was leaving them._

_Sam shouldered his backpack and left the car, and Dean drove off without him, even though everything in him was screaming to go back: to get his brother back ._

"_Sam! Sam!" Dean couldn't let him kill Lilith… _

"_Stop him or we will.." He couldn't let the angels take him._

"_This is the stupidest thing you've ever done." Sam hissed as Dean chose to stay despite the Croatoan virus. _

"_I'm here, Sammy." Dean smiled weakly, bloodied as the Lucifer-possessed Sam pulverized him. And he remained knelt on the ground as he stared at the space where a hole had opened up, where Sam had jumped through and gone. Where he'd let his baby brother sacrifice himself. _

_Dean sat beside Sam's lifeless body and recounted memories with him, the brother he'd promised to watch out for, to take care of…_

_His biggest fear was losing his little brother._

Dean smiled thinly as he glanced at his smirking little brother in the passenger seat. "Dude. Planes kill. It's a no-brainer."

Sam scoffed. "Yeah, and how many times have we established that clowns do too?"

"_Just don't die…" Sam pleaded in the driver's seat and Dean felt his heart bleed despite himself. _

"More people die from planes than clowns. You just got some crap-luck, pal." Dean grinned at Sam belligerently and Sam rolled his eyes again in response.

"Yeah, well, since you're stuck with me: it's your crap-luck too."

"_Sam! Sammy!" He couldn't lose him, he couldn't lose his little brother, he couldn't lose Sammy…there was nothing more important to him, no one more important than Sam…no matter how big he got: he was Dean's little brother…his Sammy.._

"_If you're gonna do it, do it right, with a smile." Frank said firmly._

Dean kept up his grin as he ruffled Sam's hair playfully, it had been awhile since he'd used the gesture, but what the Hell. "I can live with that."

Sam's playful expression flickered something like relief and surprise a moment as he shoved his brother lightly with one hand and smoothed out his hair. "Damn straight." he quoted his brother.

Dean chuckled and kept up his smile until he turned his head slightly and let his gaze fall momentarily out the window. Sam didn't want him to die, and he refused to lose Sam. But really, how else was any of this going to end? How else _could_ it end?

"_Why are you doing this? If it was me, I'd let you rot down here. Hell, I have let you rot here." Dean was dubious as he regarded his little brother in Bobby's panic room._

"_You're still my big brother." Sam explained as Dean questioned his faith in him, with absolute conviction._

Dean was smiling by the time he turned to look back at Sam, and there was no hint of his thoughts in his expression. It wasn't Sam's job to carry them: it was Dean's. Always had been, always would be. Because more than anything, losing his brother…that scared the Hell out of him. Dean would take care of the kid the way he always had, and if that meant sucking it up, then so be it. If that meant giving the whole damned world a big _screw you_, Fate, Heaven, Hell, the Apocalypse, Destiny itself: it didn't matter. Sammy was his to watch out for, and now he really was all Dean had left: his hope, his family, his partner, his best friend, _his brother_. So for him, he'd do anything, even the little things.

"_Fake it till you break it." _

Damn straight.

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**Mmm. So I took some fluff-liberties with both pairs of brothers. I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. XD And if any quote was slightly inaccurate…well, I was doing it by memory since my internet is down and my phone can't handle that much data-loading to check out quotes/transcripts. I had to post this scene about Dean's biggest fear because the episode caption summary was something about Sam fighting his big clown fear and Dean's biggest childhood fear was losing his little brother-but they never really elaborated anything on that like they could have…so I wanted to. XD Still gotta figure out how to post this without internet…_…I digress! Leave me verbal hugs! Or something! Thank you all! Oh, and check out Dean's in-character face book page at face book dot com/xbadmoonrisingx Because…it's fun…and he's adorable? XD~ Witchy~ -later- FIXED MY INTERNET! Now Toshiba just needs to fix my computer so I can get off this one. XD  
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	2. Of Death and the Devil

**And..it continues! XD And meanwhile, I'm super addicted to Johnny Cash and keep distracting myself from writing by playing his music. And gonna watch Walk the Line soon...I digress. MUST...FOCUS...[on something other than Johnny's smexy singing]...XD *several hours later* In the end...I was distracted by SPN clips that had me cracking up. Bobby: "Why'd you take a picture?" Crowley: "Why'd you use tongue?" XD Castiel: I found a liquor store. Sam: And? Castiel: I drank it. XDDD AHH! I love these boys. XD~  
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"I'm Detective Smith, this is Detective Johnson. We're here regarding the missing girls."

After their departure from Garth and the whole _Shojo_ incident, they'd soon after gotten a case involving four missing girls from a small town each a week apart. And by that reckoning, there was going to be a fifth soon if it kept up.

The deputy at the clerk's desk peered up at them with a doubtful frown, and Dean mentally cursed whoever decided that putting a paranoid at the counter was a good idea. "The FBI is looking into some missing girls in our little town?" Skepticism dripped from his tone and Sam, or rather 'Detective Johnson', took the lead.

"There have been similar cases in other states, this is the freshest lead that we have. So unless you'd like to be cited for obstrucing a federal agent, I'd appreciate it if you gave us whatever you have on this case."

The man bristled, clearly displeased, but he finally muttered. "Yeah, yeah, gimme a second." before he trudged off.

Dean leaned against the counter as he shook his head and regarded his younger [but irritatingly taller] brother. "Gotta love that customer service." he said with a sarcastic smile as he scanned the room. Despite four girls having been kidnapped in a one-month span, no one seemed to be in a hurry, in fact, the most exciting thing happening in the room was a Go-Fish game in the corner.

"I am telling you to release me at once!" a voice shouted from the next room over.

_Move over, Go-Fish_. Dean chuckled to himself as he shared an amused glance with Sam. "Someone's a happy camper."

Sam smiled slightly before the shouting started again.

"You are not _listening_! I am Michael, I am the greatest warrior of Heaven! How dare you treat me this way!"

Sam's smile slipped at once, and his expression of slow-spreading dread was mirrored on Dean's face. "No way." Dean muttered. "He's crazy, right?" _Please let him be crazy_. But knowing their luck? He friggin' doubted it.

"Has to be." Sam agreed uncertainly as his mind began madly processing the possibilities. "He's in the Cage. If somehow he wasn't...he wouldn't be stuck here arguing with small town's finest." And Lucifer, besides.

"Catch him!" It was a different voice that shouted this time, following a sudden shattering of a paperweight and a flash of movement as someone darted out of the room over and straight into Dean who reacted automatically and caught the culprit by the shoulders.

Dean stared down into furious, unfamiliar eyes, and he mentally cursed again when those eyes widened in recognition and the boy before him spoke lowly. There wasn't really any doubting the look in the boy's eyes, the knowledge he had, or the entire furious _I-will-smite-your-ass_ aura that he carried.

"_Dean Winchester_."

"Damnit." Dean muttered. Because with that one word, spoken full of angry vehemence and haughty arrogance and that chilling _angel_ vibe, well, that was a pretty good indicator of just whose shoulders he was holding. But then again, it was impossible, wasn't it? So what was really going on?

"You got him!" Michael was jerked away by an officer and Dean gritted his teeth at the battle he could already see coming. "Sam.." he muttered lowly, and he glanced to his brother for some back up only to find a strangely stricken look on Sam's face. His brow furrowed slightly before Michael's sudden, violent struggle to break free of the officer caught his attention.

"Whoa, hold on there." he interjected as he took hold of Michael's arm and jerked the male towards him. Michael glared daggers at Dean and tried to pull his arm free, but Dean kept hold and Michael was willing enough not to fight with Dean, at least. "What are you holding this kid for?"

"Found the little Hellion wanderin' the street naked as the day is long." An officer spoke. "Tried to figure out where his head was at and he attacked us."

"I did _not_ attack you, you attempted to restrain me and I defended myself." Michael objected icily.

"He scratched my arm." complained another officer in a whiny tone.

Dean was less than impressed with the officers, but the fact remained that they _were_ officers and if he was going to keep up the phony FBI routine, he'd need a damn good reason to take the boy from their custody. And on the off-chance that somehow, this kid was Michael...they didn't have a choice. He opened his mouth to speak when Sam interrupted.

"He's with us." Several suspicious eyes fell on Sam at that statement. "He's the son of my late sister, at the moment I'm his legal guardian. We had permission to take him further upstate while we worked this case." Michael, thankfully, was silent and watched the exchange with a frown. He seemed to have more sense than Castiel would have in that regard at least.

"What kinda hoke is that?" The officer from the counter had returned with the files, but he didn't buy the story, obviously. "You just get to take some kid on an FBI case? What's really going on here?"

Dean was prepared to make a fast lie but Sam seemed stll to have it covered. "I'm going to be driving Michael up tomorrow, while Detective Smith stays to work on the case. As soon as he's been dropped off, I'll be back."

"Why didn't they just send some other agent, huh?" The man demanded.

Sam replied calmly. "I've been working on this case for some time. Naturally, they were willing to be accomodating. Now, are there any more questions or would you rather wait until another girl goes missing?" The reminder seemed to take the officers off guard, save the clerk.

"I got another. Why was he naked?" he demanded with a finger pointed at Michael, who bristled.

"I was-"

"He's been under a lot of stress since his mother's death. We haven't had a chance to take him to a counselor about it, but my aunt will take of that."

That seemed to be the linchpin in putting the other officers at ease, because the one who appeared to be the sheriff clapped his hands together. "If they wanna take him off our hands, I don't see it's a problem. Just give 'em the files, Clem."

Dean was still reeling over the fact that they'd somehow managed to bluff out the office, but he was also a bit surprised by the fact that they were just handing the original files over. And there was the fact that they seemed completely unconcerned. But he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Clem scowled, but he reluctantly passed the papers over to Dean who took them with a deliberately sunny smile before he returned his attention to the sheriff. He released Michael and pushed him into Sam's direction, and he missed the way Michael's eyes narrowed and the way Sam stiffened as Michael neared him. Dean produced a card and passed it to the sheriff. "Call if you find anything else."

"Can do, Detective!" He promptly turned. "Now then, I think we were seein' who had an eight..."

After yet another round of incredulity over the blatant disregard of the police force, Dean, Sam, and Michael headed outside to the car. "So, _Michael_," there was a skeptical edge to the name, "Any reason you didn't just mojo outta there?"

Michael shot Dean a dark look as he walked beside them. "I am not in possession of my 'mojo', as you put it. Which is why you will assist me in regaining it and determining how I came to be here."

Dean lifted a brow. "Is that right? And we're gonna do this...why?"

Michael was up in arms in an instant as he jerked in front of Dean and glared up at him. "Because I require your assistance."

"Right. Shoulda guessed." Dean promptly opened the car door, but not before he whipped out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed Michael's hands behind his back before shoved him into the backseat. Michael's indignant protests were cut off as he shut the door and faced Sam. "What do you think...Sam...Sam?"

Sam seemed startled as he turned his eyes towards Dean. "What was the question?"

Dean's brow furrowed and he ignored the shouts coming from inside of the car. "What's with you?" It wasn't like Sam to just space out, at least, not now that they'd cleared Lucifer out of his custard. Lucifer...who had been with Michael in the Cage...things clicked into place a bit in his head, and he hesitated. Dean didn't talk about his Hell, and Sam didn't talk about his. It was too painful, too raw, and that Dean had ever told Sam what he had was...hard enough. But... "Sam...when you..."

Sam seemed to see where Dean's trail off was leading and he cut him off. "This is gonna sound crazy, because it's impossible. But I think that's Michael. The real Michael."

"Which is impossible." Dean agreed slowly. "And if he was out, wouldn't Lucifer be too?"

"You'd think." Sam muttered.

"So then what is he?" Dean jerked a thumb in the other's direction. Sam's expression was uncertain and there was no doubt that the answer was going to have come from 'Michael' himself. "So...we take him back to the motel and test him?" And interrogate, if necessary.

Sam nodded and cast an uneasy glance towards the backseat before he headed for the passenger door, and Dean made a quick decision as the door opened and he heard Michael shouting. Dean opened the door, leaned in, and promptly slammed a fist into the other's face. Michael slumped back unconscious and Dean smirked faintly. "I kinda hope he is Michael now." He'd owed the bastard a punch, after all.

Sam rolled his eyes and Dean got in, and with one glance at the sleeping 'angel' in the backseat, he took off.

...

Michael awoke slowly for the second time that day, except that this time there was a pounding pain in his head and his face felt sore. He groaned a little as he tried to move and found his arms trapped behind his back, wrapped around the back of his chair and hand cuffed. His eyes shot open and he found himself face to face with the Winchester brothers seated on chairs across from him, and his eyes narrowed. "What is this?" he hissed.

Dean, who had been idly twirling a knife on the table, smiled grimly. "This is how we figure out if you're really the dick-head, 'scuse me, _Michael_, or if you're...not."

"I _am_ Michael, you pathetic excuse for a vessel, and there are more pressing concerns than your ridiculous trials. Something raised from the Cage, and I-wha-how dare you!" Michael seethed as Dean tugged a blade across his arm and a swell of red blood surfaced.

"Not a shifter." Dean muttered before he promptly poured out some holy water over Michael's head, and his protests came out spluttered. "Not a demon."

"Of course I am not a demon!" Michael was infuriated. "Release me, _now_."

"Okay, let's say you are Michael, you're tellin' me you have no idea how you got like this? And how are you in another body anyway? I thought it was Winchester or bust with you." Dean pointed out.

"I don't know how, and as for this vessel, I woke up in it and my Grace was...missing. Or entrapped. I cannot discern which just yet." He was certain that he felt the stirrings of his Grace deep within him, and yet, he couldn't access it at all which would only be the case if it were not actually there. The lack of it unnerved him more than he cared to admit.

"Convenient. So Michael, trapped in the _Hell Cage_, just pops up out of nowhere wearing some random kid and what, you're human now?"

Michael gritted his teeth. "In essence, yes..." Michael was, in many ways, an antithesis to Castiel. He was angry where Castiel was calm, arrogant where Castiel was intrigued, he had street-sense that Castiel had lacked, and was volatile where Castiel was child-like. Castiel had been wrathful in that sense, kind of like a child, but Michael was ancient, ruthless, and pissed. And whatever Dean thought about the angel personally, there was no denying his power.

Dean wasn't quite convinced, despite the fact that internally, he just _knew_. So he guessed, really, he just didn't want to believe that Michael was back and accept all that that implied. "Sam? You got anything?"

Sam had been silently watching the exchange, but after a moment he finally brought his gaze to Michael's. "Where is Adam?" Dean blinked at the question. It hadn't occurred to him to ask, and he guessed that how Michael answered could go a long way in determining if he was being truthful about his identity or not.

Michael's gaze was cool. "He's been gone for decades, pulled out not long after you. Whatever pulled him out differed from what took you, and from what dispelled me."

Dean's gaze was back on Michael instantly. "Wait, _what_? Adam is free?"

"Apparently." Michael seemed disinterested. "I had thought that you'd had something to do with it. Clearly I overestimated you." he said snidely.

Dean wasn't about to let that go though, and even Michael was a little surprised when Dean went eye-level with him and grabbed the arms of his chair. "What happened to Adam?" he growled.

Michael stared at Dean a moment before he answered less spitefully. "I do not know. He was taken, without explanation. It shouldn't be possible, but then, my presence here defies logic as well."

Dean and Michael gazed at each other in silence before Dean pulled back and muttered. "Son of a bitch...who would want to raise Adam?"

"Who would wanna raise Michael and Lucifer?" Sam countered, because that was the more dangerous question.

"We're assuming Lucifer's up too?" Dean grimaced.

"Michael?" Sam finally addressed the would-be angel, and Michael seemed to consider it a moment before he shook his head.

"I'm not sure. I tried calling for him, but I didn't receive a response. He may be risen and too human to hear my call, as I am his. For now."

"Well this just keeps gettin' better and better." Dean withdrew Bobby's flask and took a quick drink before he returned his gaze to Michael. "Okay. So let's say you're Michael, somehow, and Lucifer's back up, somehow. You want us to help you get your mojo back so, what, you can go back to trying to kickstart the Apocalypse?"

Michael was silent a moment before he replied. "Things are different. Neither Lucifer nor I intend to continue that particular path."

"Meaning what?"

Michael's expression became annoyed. He had certainly mastered the art of expression over Castiel, although his were all negative. "Meaning that when we regain our powers, we will not be fighting."

Dean and Sam wore similar expressions of incredulity. "Hold on. _You're not gonna fight_? What the Hell does that mean? What was all this crap for then? Just for kicks?" Dean demanded.

"At the time, I fully intended to fight. Lucifer and I have since reconciled, and I-"

"_Reconciled_. With the _devil_-"

"My _brother_." Michael corrected sharply.

"Yeah, and he was your brother when you were gonna kill him and _my_ brother." Dean retorted.

"As I said." Michael replied coldly. "Things are different."

"So what? You and Lucifer had a pow-wow in the Cage and now you're back on the brother-bandwagon?"

"Something to that effect." Michael admitted.

Dean stared, unable to believe what he was hearing and he shook his head. "No way...no way in Hell you're Michael."

Michael eyed him a moment before he said dryly. "Rhonda Hurley."

Sam lifted a brow and seemed somewhat confused while Dean blanched. "How the _Hell_-"

"Your mother prayed to me the night you were born. She asked for the protection of Saint Michael for her son. She prayed to Gabriel when Sam was born. And she prayed to no one the night that Azazel killed her. And you prayed to Castiel, more than once. Of all the angels, that you would pray to that _fledgling_...but you did, and so did Sam." Michael said simply.

Dean and Sam had both gone silent at the mention of their mother, and it was finally Dean who spoke up. "Yeah, well, praying didn't do much for any of us."

"I would have protected you, it was you who chose not to accept me, Dean." Michael said, because he very well understood that that was one of Dean's implications. That Michael had failed to answer Mary Winchester's prayers, and that was not the case.

"Yeah, I'm the bastard for not letting you wear me to the end-of-the-world prom."

Michael didn't reply, he merely tilted his head as though Dean puzzled him suddenly. "You had no faith your entire life, until Castiel, and he was nothing. But if you had prayed to me, Dean, I would have granted you everything, you realize? I wouldn't have left you a husk when I was finished with your body."

"'Everything' didn't include Sam. You couldn't give me that. And you would have killed millions of people for it anyway."

Michael couldn't disagree with those statements, so he simply shrugged lightly. "They would have been necessary casualities."

Dean's own anger flared up at that. "Those are _people_ you're talking about, jackass. You think I'd pray to you? I'd be better off praying to a freakin' dog; at least when a dog's full of crap, it doesn't lie about it."

Michael's eyes narrowed dangerously, and human or not, the aura coming off the kid was menacing. If he'd needed more proof that this was Michael, that would be it. "Watch how you speak to me, Dean Winchester. I no longer require your vessel. You're expendable."

The last thing Michael saw before his face exploded with pain was a fist coming for said face, a now almost-familiar sense of blackness, and then nothing.

Dean watched with a clenched fist as Michael went unconscious once again. He'd already been sporting the beginnings of a black eye, he'd be lucky if Dean hadn't just broken a bone to match. He was pissed. Everything Michael said was verbal outrage for Dean. It was cruel, unjust, selfish, and just the sort of hypocritical, self-righteous crap that he couldn't stand. And Michael had mentioned Mary, as if her praying to him was something good. Michael had let her die and let them all get screwed over, just so he and Lucifer could duke it out.

"Dean?" Sam's voice was soft, that little-brother-knows kind of soft and he clenched his jaw as he forced himself to relax. He couldn't let Sam see how much it bothered him; he had to be strong for his little brother. And for himself, because if he let himself crumble for a moment, sometimes he had to wonder if he'd just break and then where would they be?

"I'm fine, Sammy." Dean muttered before he plopped down with another swig as he flexed his fingers. "It's gotta be Michael." he admitted. There was no acting that sort of presence, and he was pretty sure no one would think up those kind of lies about the prayers. Ironic that she'd prayed to Gabriel for Sam. If she'd only known the truth.

"So what do we do?" Sam asked quietly, and Dean took a hard look at his brother. He seemed a little out of it still, and he hadn't missed the way Sam had dodged his line of questioning earlier. But if he came right out and asked...there was no way.

Didn't stop him from wanting to though, and figuring that if he ever found out that Michael had been a part of Sam's torture in Hell...Michael was going to be a _dead_ whatever-the-Hell-he-currently-was. "For now, we keep him locked up tight. I don't buy what he's selling about being over the Apocalypse plans and buddies with Lucifer again."

"Me neither." Sam agreed as he ran a hand through his hair and considered it. "If that's Michael, then we have to assume that Lucifer is back too..."

"Maybe, but you heard him. Lucifer's probably up shit creek without his angel wings too."

Sam met Dean's gaze. "And if he is?"

"Then we're gonna kill ourselves a devil." Dean said firmly, and Sam looked only slightly surprised. Dean continued. "Let's say he is here, and he is human...if we kill him now, that's it, right? Best-case, he's gone for good, worst-case, he's still stuck in Hell where Crowley's gonna keep him till locked up tight."

"If the Leviathans don't find him first."

"Hey, you heard Crowley, Leviathans aren't playing on the demon-team."

"But Lucifer is technically an angel, and a powerful one. And really good at getting his way." Sam pointed out.

"Great. Dick making a deal with the devil. Just what we needed." Dean muttered as he took a last swig and pocketed Bobby's flask. He paused a moment before he asked. "Michael...Lucifer...you gonna be okay with this?"

"I'm fine." Sam replied easily, and Dean's fixed his brother with a slight frown. "But even if we're decided on killing the devil, that still leaves Michael. And whether he's on Lucifer's team now or not, he's not gonna let you kill him."

"Don't really think he's got a choice." Dean noted as he glanced to the unconscious angel who was sporting a bloody nose to complement the bruise. "Unless he gets his mojo back. Then we're all screwed...and Adam...who could bring him up like that?"

"Death, but we know he didn't do it. And even an archangel would have had trouble raising his soul, we found that out with Cas. So whatever it is had to be stronger than an archangel, and have a reason for bringing Adam back. Maybe it brought Lucifer and Michael back too."

"Which, again, is impossible." Dean noted.

"Pretty much."

"Great...just freakin' great..."

...

From beside the now unconscious angel, a grim-faced Bobby Singer stood watching the exchange. He'd been careful to keep away from Michael since he wasn't sure if the other could see him or not. Probably he couldn't without his angel-mojo, but he hadn't wanted to risk it while Dean and Sam were in the middle of figuring out what was going on. And now things seemed to be going downhill quickly. The devil was back, Heaven's fiercest warrior was back, and something unnamed had had the power to bring them and Adam out of Hell. And that wasn't even touching on the whole Leviathan thing, and the fact that Castiel was still playing with a half-deck.

And, being an observer, he had seen Sam's responses from the beginning and he hadn't missed that flicker of fear in his eyes. Bobby didn't know if that meant that Michael had hurt him, or if the vivid reminder of Hell had brought back more than a few unpleasant memories for Sam...but either way, the angel threw Sam off his game and that was the last thing that they needed. And if just seeing Michael could do that, he didn't wanna think about what a face-to-face with Lucifer topside might do, powers or not.

"Balls." he whispered as he set a hand on the shoulder of each of his boys. Dean's brow furrowed slightly, and Sam tilted his head, but neither gave any other indication of having noted his presence. "I'm still here, ya idjits...we'll figure this out." Bobby willed them to feel him, to sense him, anything...and it put a little hope in his heart when Dean glanced down at his pocket where Bobby's flask lay hidden.

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**This story went a bit more quickly than I'd have liked [although technically it took quite a bit of time to write;-;] Although I'm being able to do longer chapters again, and more often. XD But I was kinda rushing in the beginning especially, because I wanted to watch Walk the Line...but then it got later and I got more focused. XD And also I maybe was just eager to get to M/S/D dialogue. XD YAY BOBBY! Michael's going to have to pull a rabbit out of his hat to get his way, but thankfully, he's got a good one coming, dun dun dun. I need to study his charrie more though, his scenes were few and hard to remember-ish. XD And then there's the question of where Adam is and who raised him...questions that...I might not even know the answer to yet. XD But I do know you can expect more angelic-reappearances, muwaha. And others. And such. And Cas, because I love him so. XD And so on. I digress, I'm rambling. Leave me verbal hugs, they brighten my soul! And enjoy! ~Witchy~ **


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